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- More agile teams are finding
value in exploratory testing,

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but for many teams,

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it's still a new or even an unknown idea.

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We're gonna start by
explaining the purpose of

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exploratory testing and what's involved.

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We like Elizabeth Hendrickson's definition

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of exploratory testing.

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Simultaneously designing
and executing tests

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to learn about the system,

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using your insights
from the last experiment

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to inform the next.

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Exploratory testing
helps us find surprises.

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Implications of interactions
that nobody considered

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when we were planning our feature,

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and misunderstandings
about what the software

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is supposed to do.

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Our goal is to learn information
of interest and value

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to the delivery team, to the business

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and to the customers.

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We wanted to mitigate
risk and gain confidence

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in our new features and our product.

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With exploratory testing,
there's no script.

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There are no lists of expected outputs,

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but instead, we think about our goal.

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What do we want to learn?

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What resources can we use?

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When you do exploratory testing,

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be open to observing, to learning.

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Use your critical thinking skills.

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Challenge your expectations.

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New thoughts will take you to new places.

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If you have ever joined a
project that had no documentation

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about their product and
you just had to learn

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what the system does by using it,

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you've actually done exploratory testing,

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but in this lesson,

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we're focusing on exploratory testing

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in the agile world and we're assuming

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that you know your system under test.

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People often confuse exploratory testing

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with ad hoc testing or monkey testing.

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Ad hoc testing is testing without

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any planning or any documentation,

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and there's a place for that.

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Just trying things.

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Following your nose.

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Not the same as
exploratory testing though.

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Monkey testing is just
entering random inputs

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and random actions and see what breaks,

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and both of these types of
testing have their place.

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But exploratory testing

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is much more focused and disciplined.

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It's the difference between

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wandering at random because you're lost

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and exploring thoughtfully
to gain insights.

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We can explore other things
besides the software itself.

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We can explore ideas.

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In lesson three, we talked about

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exploring business
roles by using examples.

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There are lots of techniques
for exploratory testing,

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and we'll cover some of
these later in this lesson.

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Lets look at a few of the
many different approaches

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of exploratory testing.

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Personas.

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Think about who uses your system.

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How do they use it?

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What's their job?

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What's their role?

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We want to look at risks,

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both technical and business risks.

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The most common exploratory
testing approach

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is using workflows or journeys,

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and we can also use tours.

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Identifying landmarks, if you
will, to explore the system.

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This comes in very handy
during the in game.

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It can be combined with
workflows and journeys

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to look at your system
and navigate through

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in different ways.

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We'll be looking at each of
these techniques in more detail.